I. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to dispensers and, more particularly, to an adapter system which enables the same spout to be used with fluid containers having fitments of different sizes.
II. Description of Related Art
There are many different types of fluid containers that are used in manufacturing and other commercial applications. In most cases, the containers include a threaded closure opening adapted to removably receive a threaded cap. Thus, in order to dispense fluid from the container, the cap is removed by unscrewing it from the container which enables the fluid to be dispensed out through the fitment. After the desired amount of fluid is dispensed from the container, the threaded cap is oftentimes replaced on the container thus closing the fitment.
In many situations, furthermore, it would be desirable to attach a dispensing spout onto the container in order to facilitate dispensing fluid from the container. Such a spout may optionally include a valve which the user can operate in order to more carefully control the rate of dispensing from the container. Another common issue is the difficulty in pouring the fluid from the standard fitments without glugging and splashing.
Unfortunately, there currently exists no standardization for the size of the threaded fitments for containers of the type used in commercial and industrial applications. Rather, the manufacturers of such containers have merely designed the containers to suit their own particular needs or design criteria. Consequently, the threaded connections for the closure caps for these containers vary not only in diameter and pitch of the thread, but also the cross-sectional shape of the thread itself.
Due to the wide range of different thread sizes and shapes for the fitments of fluid containers, it has not previously been possible to utilize a standard spout size which is attachable to containers having different sizes or shapes of the threaded closure fitments. Since the tooling required to manufacture dispensing spouts is relatively expensive, the tooling cost to manufacture a wide variety of dispensing spouts having different thread sizes to accommodate the different thread types found on different fluid containers has proven to be prohibitive.